


Tripping into free fall

by thewayofthetrashcompactor (BriarLily)



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: F/M, Grumpy Hermit Luke, Speculation, Star Wars: The Last Jedi Trailer, angry rey
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-05
Updated: 2017-12-05
Packaged: 2019-02-11 03:44:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12926655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BriarLily/pseuds/thewayofthetrashcompactor
Summary: When Kylo Ren forced his way into her mind, Rey felt him connect with something deep within her, something that had been buried and dormant. She’d sensed it in threads before, used it almost unconsciously to keep herself alive in the unforgiving environment of Jakku, but it’d never been so much a part of her before, filling the back of her mind, begging to be used.The feeling didn’t go away. It surged forth again when she fought him in the snow of Starkiller base, flowing easily with her anger. Rage amplified it, building and burning its way through her. And when she had his saber in hand and drove it into the planet turned weapon, the energy filling her found its direction. She threw him back, snarling and pacing. The ground cracked between them and it felt like a release.





	Tripping into free fall

**Author's Note:**

> I'm just going to up and post everything I have before The Last Jedi. A week and two days! This started out as exploring super powerful Rey, then turned TLJ-inspired before taking a steep dive in the conclusion. Rating will go up, if I finish it.

When Kylo Ren forced his way into her mind, Rey felt him connect with something deep within her, something that had been buried and dormant. She’d sensed it in threads before, used it almost unconsciously to keep herself alive in the unforgiving environment of Jakku, but it’d never been so much a part of her before, filling the back of her mind, begging to be used. She leashed it and pushed back against him, the power coming to her as if through ingrained instinct, and she fought back as hard as he’d pushed.

The feeling didn’t go away: the connection that had always been present, but never so _loud_. It surged forth again when she fought him in the snow of Starkiller base, flowing easily with her anger. Rage amplified it, building and burning its way through her. He pushed her to the edge of the chasm where the planet was collapsing, and she held her own against him, finding her way easily back into his mind, taking what she needed. And when she had his saber in hand and drove it into the planet turned weapon, the energy filling her found its direction. She threw him back, snarling and pacing. The ground cracked between them and it felt like a release.

The energy died down to a dull hum in the background as she escaped the planet with Finn and Chewbacca, but didn’t leave.

\- - -

She sits beside Finn in the infirmary. Now that the adrenaline of the battle has worn off, the constant buzzing of the Force under her skin is harder to ignore. Everything is oversensitized, like a current running through her veins. She can feel every one of the Resistance members scattered throughout the base, a jumbled mess of emotions, especially in the wake of Starkiller. It’s another thing she can blame firmly on Kylo Ren, along with all of his other crimes. The Force hasn’t been quiet since they rummaged through each other’s minds, and she’s about to split at the seams. It creeps up on her, every time she tries to ignore it, nudging against her thoughts with frightening persistence. 

Rey’s steps are slow as she leaves the infirmary after saying her goodbye. The general waits for her outside by the Falcon, and Rey joins her. Leia looks at her with concern. Rey tries to smile back, knowing as much as feeling that the attempt doesn’t reassure the older woman. Leia reaches for her hands, and Rey gives them. The general’s fingers are soft and warm as they wrap around hers, and Rey takes comfort in the security the other woman exudes.

“Luke can help you,” she says softly, and Rey pulls back, startled. She’s been trying to hold herself together since she’d arrived on the base, through being fed and examined and finally told to rest, but she hadn’t realized it was so apparent.

Leia’s fingers tighten around hers, centering her. She looks up at Rey with sympathy and a deep sadness Rey doesn’t know how to place. “You’ll have to make him, but he can help you,” Leia promises. Rey nods, as desperate to believe in her words as she is. 

Leia pulls her closer, wrapping her arms around her, hugging her tightly. Rey hugs back just as hard. Slowly, the general lets go, and Rey copies her reluctantly. She turns towards the Falcon, ready to face her fate. 

“Rey,” the general calls, and she turns back. “May the Force be with you.” 

Rey nods, while wondering how the Force could be with her any more than it already is. She walks up the ramp and joins Chewie in the Falcon, in front of the cheering crowd that’s gathered. 

Relief flows through her as they take off from D’Qar, leaving the noise and the people of the base behind. The quirks of the Falcon keep her occupied just enough as they fly away, and she takes refuge in the comfort of mechanics. 

Once they’ve settled into hyperspace, she leans back against the seat and closes her eyes. The quiet is soothing, with only Chewie and R2 accompanying her. She feels only a distant sadness from the wookiee, much easier for her to separate from her own thoughts than the overwhelming crush of people on the base. With the Force dulled to a quiet hum, she closes her eyes and finally gets some rest.

-

She wakes to a gentle push on her shoulder from a furry hand, and instantly jerks to full alertness. Chewie growls softly, and it brings her back to the present. She glances down at the nav computer and finds they’re closing in on Ahch-To. With Chewie’s help, she pulls the ship out of hyperspace. They arrive in a nearly empty sector of space, a small mostly blue sphere hanging in the blackness in front of them. With a deep breath, she guides them to the planet. As they descend through the atmosphere, the planet slowly reveals itself. Water covers nearly all of it, save for small scattered pinpricks of rocky land sticking up from the waves. She feels the same thrill that went through her when she first saw Takodana. Curled in her AT-AT in a world covered in sand, she had dreamed of an entire world of water, but the reality is so much more.

Beyond the excitement of the new world, something else about the planet calls out to her as they draw closer to the surface, near enough to see the caps of the massive waves. The planet thrums beneath them, a rhythm echoing the one she can feel in her bones. The Force is as much a part of the planet as the water, ebbing and flowing in the same way. She doesn’t even need the navigation to guide them to the right island. The path is clear, like a bright thread drawing her forward. 

Luke’s island, when it appears on the horizon, shines like a beacon in the Force. Rey doesn’t think she could resist its pull if she tried, and landing on the shore is almost a relief. Chewie watches with the same sadness Rey recognizes from Leia as she nervously gathers her bag and descends from the ship. She tries to push the emotion from her mind, focusing only on the climb ahead. She can’t resist a final look back though, and for a ship she’s only really known for a few days, the sight of the Falcon waiting on the beach is oddly comforting. Hitching her bag higher on her shoulder, she sets her sights on the steps in front of her. 

The anticipation coiling in her chest mixes with the potent thread of the Force coiling around the island, and her heart pounds from more than the climb by the time she reaches the top. The figure standing at the edge of the cliff is oddly restrained; she can only barely feel the turmoil of emotions within him. He turns and looks at her and she’s hit full force with the sadness and regret she’d felt from Leia and Chewbacca. Trembling, she pulls the lightsaber from her bag and holds it out. The Force presses in around them, heavy, almost as if it’s watching.

Slowly, Luke takes a step towards her. He doesn’t take the saber. 

“Why are you here?” His voice grumbles with disuse. 

She hesitates. “I -we need your help. I need to learn how to control this.”

He regards her, dark eyes piercing, and finally nods. She breathes a sigh of relief, wondering in the back of her mind what the wrong answer would have been. Without a word, he walks past her, back down the path she’d come up. Nonplussed, she stands for a moment, then follows. 

He leads her along a path leading off of the main steps, one she’d passed earlier. After climbing around the edges of the island, they arrive at a flat grassy area, occupied by a squat stone hut. Luke makes his way to the hut, stepping around the stone fire circle in front. Rey lingers outside as Luke enters, shifting nervously on her feet. Luke shuffles around and emerges with a few wrapped packets, which he sets down as he sits on a rock by the charred spot on the ground. He opens one and leans over the pit, fiddling with a pair of rocks. She shifts again and he looks up, noticing her. 

“Sit,” he says gruffly, motioning to the other stones in the circle.

Slowly, she sits down, watching the legendary Jedi master with some confusion. Eventually, sparks fall from the rocks and catch on the small pile of kindling he sets up. With help from the pile of wood next to the hut, he soon has a small fire started, which he uses to cook the thin slimy creatures that must come from the water that he pulls from the other packet. He offers her the food just as silently as he does everything else. She takes it and downs it rapidly, ignoring the twisting in her stomach. She barely even notices the unfamiliar oily texture or salty tang, only eating as quickly as she can, eager to proceed from this to what’s next.

She watches with barely concealed impatience as Luke carefully eats his own meal, then packs away his tools again. When he stands and turns back to the hut, she can’t restrain herself any longer. 

“Will you teach me?” she calls after him, trying to keep her voice even, without the frustration or desperation tugging at her.

Luke stops, and his shoulders hunch into themselves. “Tomorrow,” he says, then disappears into the hut, closing the door firmly behind him. 

She’s left staring after him dumbly. When his rejection finally registers, she scowls, fists clenching. Taking a deep breath, she walks to the door, and knocks. When he opens it, she holds out the saber again. 

“Please. I need help. I need someone to teach me.”

He looks at her, and his face softens, but he remains firm. “Tomorrow,” he repeats. 

Her hands tighten around the saber. “Why?”

His eyes pierce hers, but she refuses to look away. “Patience,” he says, and closes the door again.

Rey huffs and turns away. She stares across the grass, to the ocean beyond, lost. She hadn’t fully thought through what would happen if she failed to recruit Luke, not wanting to consider the possibility. She doesn’t want to return to Chewie and the Falcon so soon, so instead she walks along the other paths circling the island’s cliffs. On her own, the only sounds are the crashing of the waves and her steps along the rocks, but every so often she catches a glimpse of some brown and feathery creatures to the side, tucked up in the crags of the island.

At one point, the path widens out to an overhang above the water, with a pillar of rock standing near the end. She turns off and walks to the edge, then sits, legs dangling in the air. It reminds her suddenly of perching at the top of a star destroyer, rope in hand, but the chill of the salty air and the view of neverending water feel as if they can hardly be part of the same galaxy as the overwhelming heat and sand of the desert.

The Force still hasn’t let go of her, and it echoes her dissatisfaction and restlessness as she swings her feet. Her hand wanders idly to her waist, where the saber is clipped, drawn there without her thinking. She taps her fingers against the hilt, then swings her legs back over the ledge, standing smoothly. She removes the saber from her belt and lights it. The bright blue beam still inspires a sense of awe in her, that she holds the same saber from the stories. She swings it experimentally, then whips it around to nearly touch the tall rock sitting on the cliff edge. She lets the Force guide her, playing out forms she remembers from Starkiller, some she learned on her own with her staff, and others she doesn’t recognize, but feel instinctively right.

Once she falls into the rhythms, times passes quickly. The pale sun begins to set before she realizes how long she’s spent practicing. Panting, she comes back to herself. She turns the saber off, returning it to her belt, and climbs back down to the beach, where Chewie is waiting. 

He’s started a small fire on the sand, and a ration pack sits ready for her beside him. He looks up at she clambers down the last set of steps and growls inquisitively. 

“He...said he’ll train me,” she tells him. “We’ll start tomorrow.” 

Chewie looks up at the steadily darkening peak of the island, and she wonders when he last saw the old jedi. Rey takes a seat at the fire with the wookiee, and tears open the ration pack with a vengeance. Now that she’s not exhausting her body into distraction, her resentment at the jedi master bubbles back up. She bites savagely into the protein bar, and Chewie looks at her with concern. She swallows.

“It’s just...he’s the only person in the galaxy who can help us. And I need help. I don’t know,” she gestures vaguely around them, at the Force that permeates the air, “what any of this is. I was just a scavenger until I found BB-8 a few days ago. And I just - “ She takes a deep breath. “I need someone to show me my place in all this.” She turns away. “And I’m not sure he will.”

A large furry paw lands on her shoulder, startling her out of staring into the fire. She meets Chewie’s eyes, full of concern, and tries to smile. “Thanks.” He squeezes her shoulder before his hand falls away, and they both return to gazing at the fire, as if it can give them their answers. 

-

Rey wakes in her bunk in the Falcon the next morning to the sound of something repeatedly hitting the metal hull. Her first panicked thought is a sandstorm, before she remembers where she is. The next thought is that they’re under fire, and she throws off the blanket in a panic and rushes to the cockpit. 

No enemy ships or laser blasts reveal themselves outside the ship. Instead, shades of gray cover the island outside, and heavy drops of water fall from the sky. Her eyes widen. She almost runs out of the ship in her underclothes, but instead dashes back to her bunk to dress herself quickly. She barely stops to grab her staff and the heavy poncho that had been included for her before lowering the ramp, nearly tripping over it in her haste to get outside. 

She hesitates under the Falcon, watching the water fall. Slowly, she emerges from under the shelter. The drops immediately soak into her hair and clothes. She smiles uncontrollably. The water soothes her skin, fresh and cool, and her eyes fall closed as she holds her hand out to catch it, letting it pool and spill down her arm. 

Finally, she drops her hand and looks to the stairs up the island. The rain has reinvigorated her, and she makes her climb. 

Luke’s hut looks even more drab in the rain and shows no sign of life. She knocks on the door, and holds her breath as she waits for an answer. None comes, and she knocks again. She glances around. She can still feel him here, and she considers pushing the door open, when it finally opens from the inside. 

Luke glares at her, looking as though she woke him. “What?” he grumbles.

Rey frowns. “You said you would teach me.”

He looks past her at the rain, scowling. “Come back when the rain stops.” The door slams closed. 

She gapes, then snaps her mouth shut, glaring after him. Not taking her eyes off of the door, she sits on one of the rocks outside. The rain saturates her clothes as she waits and she shivers, not used to the feeling. She refuses to leave and go back to the Falcon though, and stubbornly wraps herself further in the cold and wet fabric.

Slowly, the rain slows, and the clouds begin to part. She basks as the sun warms her, even as the sea breeze leaves a slight chill. After the last drop has fallen from the sky, Luke finally emerges from his hut. He doesn’t look surprised to see her waiting there, but he doesn’t meet her eyes, almost guiltily. He walks off again without a word and with a surge of irritation, she follows. 

He leads her to the same cliff where she’d practiced the day before, and she wonders if he knows. He stands back to the side and gestures to the ground between them. 

“We’ll start with feeling the Force around us.” Under his gaze, she awkwardly kneels on the rock. He nods. “Now reach out. The Force flows strongly here; you should be able to sense it.” Restraining herself from rolling her eyes, she closes them instead, and does as he says. 

She’s let the Force guide her since arriving, first to find Luke and the island, then to learn how to use his saber, but she hasn’t delved into it, only skimming the surface. It scares her, the immense power she seems to be connected to, but she takes a deep breath and plunges in. 

She immediately gasps. The Force runs so much deeper through this world than she knew. It coils like a ball in the center, so bright as to be blinding to her senses, and she draws back instinctively. It spreads to the surface in ropes and threads, each of them humming with power. It forms pools where it emerges, the largest within the island they stand on. She falls into the island, and it she’s standing there a cave below, where the water laps against the rock, echoing in the emptiness. She turns and sees Luke, crouched over something in the center of it all. She gasps, falling from the vision. 

She falls from her knees onto her hands, panting. Now that she’s opened herself, everything is so much more sensitive before. Every rock, every wave, each of the small creatures across the island, she can feel them as if touching them all. 

Luke regards her inscrutably. “Come here,” he says finally, walking to the edge of the cliff. She stands shakily and follows, thoughts still tangled in what she’s seen. She opens her mouth to ask him about it, but he speaks before she can. 

“Reach out, beyond us.” Her breathing quickens in anticipation of feeling that power again. “Breathe. Just breathe.” She nods, calming herself. “Reach as far as you can. And tell me what you see.”

Her stretch is tentative at first, aimless as she imagines the blackness of space beyond Ahch-To, the emptiness they had seen as they arrived. She doesn’t know if she’s imagining it or seeing it, until she feels the same pull of the Force through the darkness. It drags her through space, planets and stars speeding by in blurs, faster than she can see, intent on its destination. It stops abruptly, like falling out of hyperspace, and she gasps, trying to catch her breath. 

The planet before her burns, even from afar, but the Force still summons her forward. She falls through the atmosphere and to the surface in a blink, and in the next one gasps again at the heat scorching her skin, even as she can still feel the sea air of Ahch-To. The sea covering this world spits and hisses with flames, as different from the world she started on as Ahch-To’s bright center from the dark Force that clings to the surface here, bleeding from the wounds that crack the dark rock she stands on. 

A dark monolith rises from the landscape in front of her, and as soon as she notices it, she’s pulled inside. The Force’s true purpose in bringing her here instantly reveals itself. Kylo Ren kneels on the floor of a tall, circular room, staring at a cracked bacta tank in the center. The shadows of the room obscure his face, but she can make out a dark patch covering the side of it where she’d cut him, and feels a quick surge of vicious satisfaction. His tumultuous emotions fill the room, nearly suffocating: anger and fear and guilt and despair all chasing after each other around him. With a kind of horrified fascination, she leans closer, and he looks up, somehow meeting her eyes. The full brunt of his presence in the Force hits her, and her fists clench, nails digging into her hands. A sharp crack comes from behind her, the sound breaking through the scene, and she whips around to see. 

She opens her eyes as she does and finds herself back on Ahch-To, Luke staring with her. The rock behind them has opened up in a jagged line, leading from the cliff wall to where they stand. It fills Rey with a sudden sense of foreboding. Luke snaps his head over his shoulder and looks at her intensely.

“What did you see?” he demands.

“Kylo Ren,” she tells him, uncertainly. “He was alone - “

“I should have known,” he mutters, turning away. “As soon as I felt you, it was clear.”

“What?” she asks, desperately, chasing after him.

He looks back at her again, and she takes a step back at the fear she sees in his eyes. “I’ve seen this raw strength only once before,” he says, and Rey’s blood chills. “It didn’t scare me enough then. It does now.”

With a swirl of his cape, he swiftly stalks from the overhang and back up the path. Rey stands frozen for a moment, then follows, running.

“Wait!” She catches up, walking behind him on the narrow path. “What do you mean? You said you would teach me.”

He glares at her over his shoulder but doesn’t stop.

“What am I supposed to do?” she asks, pleading. He ignores her. 

She chases him all the way back to his hut, where he slams the door in her face before she can follow him. She pushes on it, but he’s clearly holding it against her. She pounds on it, once, frustration overcoming her, then withdraws. 

She’s panting, angry and confused. Her power is the reason she needs his help; how can he not see that? His words about her strength echo in her mind, and she thinks of the little she knows about Kylo Ren. Han said he’d destroyed it all, before Kylo had killed him. Is that what Luke fears? What’s left to destroy?

Scowling, she sits on a rock outside the hut, just as she’d done that morning, and watches the hut. Occasionally, she stands and paces, or withdraws her saber. Without anything to focus on, her mind wanders. She thinks of Leia and her faith in her and her brother, of Finn lying injured, and the First Order likely regrouping for another attack. They need something to be able to fight back, and she paces faster. 

She returns to her perch on the rock as the afternoon drags on into evening, and her head begins to droop as it fades into night. She jerks awake when furry arms wrap around her, lifting her up. They hold her tighter when she flails, panic overcoming logic, until she recognizes Chewie. She remains tense, but doesn’t fight him as he carries her back down the mountain to the Falcon. As he walks, she can hear the chirps of a small crowd of the island birds around his feet. He sets her down in the main room, and looks at her inquisitively. She looks away, rubbing her arms. 

“What happened with the jedi?” he growls.

“I - I scared him. I don’t know.” Her eyes burn, and she blinks rapidly. “He wouldn’t answer me.”

Chewie growls something else that she doesn’t catch, but ends in swearing. “He should know better,” he tells her. Then, gentler, “Get some rest.”

She nods and goes to her bunk. She dresses for bed slowly, and sleep takes a while to come.

She returns to the hut the next morning as dawn breaks over the island and resumes her vigil. The task feels familiar for reasons she doesn’t fully want to acknowledge to herself. The same thoughts chase each other in her mind, leading nowhere new. The day passes.

Shades of red and orange draw over the island, and night approaches. She stands and returns to her position just in front of Luke’s door. Her hand hovers over the wood. More pleas press at her lips, desperate and begging, but she pulls back from the door, spine stiffening. He’s abandoned her. She won’t wait again. She can find her own way to take care of what she needs to.

**Author's Note:**

> Would love to hear what you think! Part 2 will be up in a few days. You can also find me on [tumblr](http://thewayofthetrashcompactor.tumblr.com/).


End file.
